The Aramco Retiree Golf Group held their eleventh event at the Omni Resort in Las Colinas, TX, August 30 – September 2, 2024 in conjunction with the ARAMCO Annuitant Hafla Reunion. Golf activities included two rounds of golf at the Cowboys and Rangers golf courses, located in Grapevine and Arlington, respectively. The Dallas area is home to the Dallas Cowboys professional football team and the Texas Rangers professional baseball team. The golf format for both days was Stableford and prizes were awarded to team, individual and nearest-the-pin winners. There were 26 golfers and around 200 people attending the Annuitant Reunion so it was a good opportunity to visit with both golfers and non-golfers, and to meet a lot of new people who had similar experiences while living in Saudi Arabia. It was a fabulous event that was coordinated by Joy Neumann and her committee.
We want to thank Tahir Bukhari for handling all the course arrangements which was very tedious negotiating all the terms and conditions for our group, and Ed Devlin for handling the team scoring, winners and prizes. We had a couple of hiccups with the courses handling the Golf Genius winner calculations but were able to determine the final winners after close coordination with the course staff. The top five winners in order for this event were Ed Devlin, Steve Farley, Jeff Hancock, Ken Pitts and Mel Knotts, usual suspects other than Steve because he just retired and we hope to see him more on the retiree group golf tour.
The photo below just happens to include the 5 overall winners, smiling from ear to ear, who happened to pose together after Day 1. How coincidental. Left to Right, Ken Pitts, Jeff Hancock, Ed Devlin, Steve Farley and Mel Knotts. They played well on both days and deserved to win the overall 2-day winner awards.
We were very fortunate to hold the golf tournament in conjunction with the ARAMCO Annuitant Reunion because it was a fun-filled event with nightly dinners and different activities during the day for those who did not play golf.
It was great to see everyone to catch up on what has happened since everyone retired. At Happy Hour the first night includes Left to Right, Thomas Hogan, aka “Long Ball”, Mike Haas, Ken Pitts, Ton Rios, aka Boom Boom, and Mel Knotts.
Each night had a different theme for the food including Italian, Mexican and Middle Eastern food at the banquet on the last night. Guests came early for happy hour and stayed late to visit with all their old friends and to meet new ones. Whether you knew the person or met them for the first time, you became instant friends after sharing similar experiences while living in Saudi Arabia and working for Saudi Aramco. The photo below includes non-golfers and golfers attending the Italian night dinner. Photo includes, Left to Right, Mickie Haas, Michelle Taylor, Mike Haas, Bruce Taylor, and Tom and Perla Timoney.
The first round of golf on Saturday, August 31 was held at the beautiful Cowboy course which is a very popular spot for corporate functions and golf tournaments. We had a breakfast buffet in the morning for all the players and was fun to hear all the smack talking especially questions about who were going to be the day’s “sandbaggers”, those who play way below their reported handicaps.
The players posed for a group photo outside the Cowboy Clubhouse after hitting the driving range and before being led to our starting holes by the course golf staff. The photo Left to Right front row, includes Gregg Skinner, Jeff Hancock, Ed Devlin, Mel Knotts, Tim McGhee, Paul Taylor, Jose Gonzalez, Les Fowler, Cleo Hutchins, Geraldine Gossard, and Tony Rios. Left to Right back row includes David Rowe, Steve Vezendy, Wilson Rowe, Steve Farley, Carl Gossard, Jack Meyer, Peter Neumann, Al Hutchins, Tahir Bukhari, Ken Pitts, Mike Haas, Thomas Hogan, Tom McGhee and Ronnie Norvell. Not included is Tom Owen who only played the Saturday round.
The Cowboy course had a very nice layout that was challenging with an ample amount of water hazards, trees, bunkers and elevation changes. The photo below shows the tee box at one of the holes with a large lake in front of the tee-off area with a sizeable carry to the fairway. I think Peter Neumann’s tee-shot ball may have gone for a swim by his reaction.
We all watched in amazement as Ed Devlin, from Philadelphia, and an avid Philadelphia Eagles professional football team fan wanted to exhibit some of his feelings for the Dallas Cowboys professional football team “Star” that is prominently displayed on the Cowboy’s team football helmets and is emblazoned on one of the holes on the course. There is a huge rivalry between these two teams, Eagles and Cowboys, and Ed was definitely showing his feelings for the Cowboys. We all had a good laugh once Ed exhausted his efforts and we wanted to throw a red penalty flag for un-sportsmanship-like conduct, jokingly, but decided no flag after he and local Cowboy fan Jeff Hancock shook hands.
Ed then proceeded to guide his team including Jeff Hancock, Wilson and David Rowe to first place with 95 Stableford points, and won the overall individual first-place prize with 42 Stableford points followed by Steve Farley, Jeff Hancock, Mel Knotts and Ken Pitts, who all tied for second place with 40 Stableford points. The second-place team winners had 94 Stableford points, only 1 point less, and sure they left a number of shots out on the course that could have won them first place.
The golf round on Sunday, September 1, was held at the Ranger’s course and everyone including Tom Owen, third from Right in the front row posed in front of the clubhouse. The first-place team winners with 91 Stableford points, were Ken Pitts, Tom and Tim McGhee and Geraldine Gossard. Geraldine was on the second-place team on Day 1 so was on winning teams both days. I am now getting lots of requests to play on her team because she is a good player and plays from the shorter Women’s tees.
The surprising individual winner for Day 2 was Peter Neuman with 42 Stableford points, 6 strokes below his reported handicap. Peter kept telling me that he only plays golf about once a year so did not expect much, but either he was transformed overnight into a much better golfer or the Handicap Committee will be watching him for the next planned golf event. Whatever, a wonderful feat for our good friend and husband of Joy Neumann, Reunion Coordinator.
I need to do a special shout-out to Jack Meyer, who I will not report on his age, but he is 10 years older than me, and played fantastic golf both days. He is my golfing idol, and hope when I reach his age, I can play up to his standard. Pictured below on the 18th hole Left to Right, includes Tahir Bukhari, Mel Knotts, Cleo Hutchins and Jack Meyer, evidently a Wisconsin Badger fan. His partners fully cooperated by wearing red golf shirts and golf hats in support of Jack’s Wisconsin Badgers.
The evening events were a great time to get together and visit. As we always say, half the fun of these events is seeing everyone and the other half is the different activities including golf.
The photo below includes Left to Right, Ken Pitts, Becki Pitts, Mickie Haas and Mike Haas who had an opportunity to visit before the Sunday night banquet sponsored by Saudi Aramco.
Saudi Aramco was very gracious in hosting the final banquet that included a general update about what is happening at Saudi Aramco presented by Hiba Dialdin and an announcement about the next Hafla Reunion in Saudi Arabia by Ali Mohammed Al-Baluchi, which will be held in 2027. Ali is a long time ARAMCO employee, and also a renowned author, and distributed his book, Heart and Soul, A Memoir, at the event.
There were lots of door prizes given out during the banquet and both Kelly and Jose Gonzalez, and Mickie Haas were lucky enough to win a couple of interesting memorabilia items. It was a great closing event for the reunion.
If you are interested in being included in the ARAMCO Retiree Golfer database, please contact Mike Haas at mdhaas@attglobal.net, mdhaas51@yahoo.com or cell 361-257-5933. If you are interested in getting in contact with any of the players, please send me your contact details and I will pass it along to them.
The next golfing trip in 2025 is being discussed. If you have any suggestions about places to visit, please let me know. We are always looking for new venues. At the time, we are considering Michigan and Utah.